Consultant paediatrician David Drew was told by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust to “keep his beliefs to himself” after sending a prayer to workmates.

A devout Christian doctor, sacked after emailing Bible quotes to colleagues, has failed to prove religious discrimination at a tribunal appeal.

Consultant paediatrician David Drew was told by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust to “keep his beliefs to himself” after sending a prayer to workmates.

The former clinical director, who worked for the Trust for almost 30 years, was sacked after he refused to accept the recommendation of an independent review panel.

Dr Drew, 62, insisted his Christian beliefs were “not against the law” but his claims of unfair dismissal, religious discrimination and victimisation were rejected last April at employment tribunal.

It ruled there was “no evidence” the hospital board had been influenced by his religious beliefs.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now rejected a bid by the medic to overturn that decision, saying the lower tribunal made “no error in law”.

Judge Jeffrey Burke QC said Dr Drew emailed the St Ignatius prayer to colleagues at Walsall Manor Hospital in April 2009, describing it as a personal inspiration in his “frail efforts to serve my patients, their families and our department”.

He was suspended from the “multi-cultural, multi-faith” hospital later the same month after a nurse raised a grievance, claiming he had undermined her.

Whilst he was cleared of any misconduct in relation to that complaint, recommendations about his style of communication were made in a report resulting from the probe.

One colleague had told the Trust that Dr Drew sent him poems and prayers, which he found “strange”. Another reported receiving emails which were “a bit bizarre, quoting the Bible”, the judge added.

The author of the hospital report had said: “Dr Drew must accept that his own wider personal views and religious beliefs should be kept to himself and should not be imposed on others.’’

But the doctor, of Sutton Coldfield, disagreed and accused the Trust’s management of bullying him.

However, an independent review carried out by the Royal College of Paediatrics said his use of religious language was “not appropriate” in a professional setting.

The medic’s barrister, David McIlroy, argued on appeal that the original tribunal erred in its factual findings and reached a “perverse” decision.

Dismissing the appeal, the judge found that the employment tribunal’s factual conclusions were open to it on the evidence and were not based on any error of law.